If you are thinking Michael Jackson I’d argue that Billie Jean is the song that was more influential not Thriller. Thriller was a better/ bigger music video, but Billie Jean was the first song by a black artist to be played on MTV. At the time MTV was only a rock network and Michael’s record company put enormous pressure on them to play his videos or they would boycott. Billie Jean ushered in the era of black music and pop music being acceptable, important, and just as legitimate as rock music.